I was a play widower this weekend. While Cassy was putting in yet another weekend in at work, I fluffed around and did nothing much in particular. The surf was crappy, the weather uninviting unlike the previous weekend, and the weekend and our moods were suitably muted by the long hours Cass had to put in for her job.

Well, that was an upbeat start wasn’t it?! Actually, even though the time commitment is pretty big this weekend, Cassy quite likes her ongoing job of being in charge of the makeup for the middle school play each year. The show it self (this year, “Do Wop Red Riding Hood”) is always bigger than Ben Hur, and the cast get all twitapated, the crew vastly overestimate the importance of the gig, and the supporting faculty spend a lot of time dealing with mildly hysterical, precocious “stars”. The gang who help Cass is a good one she finds, trained well by her to just get on with their job with a minimum of fuss. She even had one boy this year, who she suspects was actually very keen to stay near a few of the girls, rather than an inclination towards the finer points of makeup for himself.

Friday night, Saturday night and a matinee today took most of the weekend, and in between times, Cassy “enjoyed” doing all sorts of cooking and other deadly dull domestic chores (in my view). It sounds really bad, and believe me I do offer to do these things, but she is adamant that it is therapeutic and she likes it, finding it especially distracting on a heavy weekend like this. I took the opportunity to go up to the local eatery on Saturday night and order some local food. Cass is not a really big fan of this fairly basic fare, but I quite like it every now and then and it gives me a chance to practice a bit more Chinese, which I’ve been slack on lately. I turn up to lessons but don’t seem to find much time to put any talk into practice, so I’m stagnating a bit. Anyway, the fried rice with shrimp was tasty, but the oysters in garlic were a bit way out and had some kind of stinking element to the sauce that made it virtually inedible.

While Cass was out at the matinee today, I whipped across to the big yellow 3C shop nearby and bought a new external hard drive. My current one which has served me well for a few years won’t stay on and decided to “die” at very inappropriate times. The old one was 150 GB, but the new one is one TB (terabyte) and I had to ask the shopkeeper what that meant. I think 1000 GB should keep me in external storage heaven for a while, don’t you? It is quite tiny physically and was remarkably cheap….quite amazing. I picked up a little extra flash drive for some work stuff and then I whizzed down to the Philippines market way down on Chung Shan past the art museum. I picked up heaps of bottles of shampoo/conditioner that we just couldn’t find anywhere else: not quite everything is ubiquitously available yet! On the way home, I stopped to take a shot of the very nearly completed new Sogo department store down near the main bank branch near Wendel’s. It’s a massive glass and steel behemoth that will soon be attracting a whole army of shoppers to our own local area. We’re hoping it will have all sorts of cool places to eat and browse, but like everyone else, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Certainly a busy weekend for some, but not for me. I think my heart rate got to its highest point when the Knights were defending their narrow lead against a fast finishing Tigers this afternoon (they lost). Photos: Street selling outside the Phillipines market, Cass in her Do Wop shirt talking to C&V on the phone from the outback, the big glass front of Sogo, scooter intersection on the way home and one big storage solution!

Quiet prepared for an extremely low key birthday this week, I had a number of welcome contacts and a few surprises, which made it one of the best I’ve had in years. As is our practice, Cass just gave me a kiss and wished me happy birthday on Tuesday morning. We kinda save up for gifts at other times unless it’s a “special” one. She did, however, give me the cards that had already arrived from Mum and Chris and Val and they had some nice sentiments but also generous gifts inside…hmmm new board this year: maybe!

At school, the kiddies all made me some cards and they were quite hilarious and sweet and a member of my team made me a chocolate cake that we all shared at morning tea. That evening, partly in response to the chocolate cake I must admit, I denied myself a night off from the “steps” and dutifully motored up them. Checking the inbox when I got back, it was wonderful to hear from all three of my siblings and news from some as well. When I got cleaned up, Cass and I decided to wander up the river pathway to the Thai Town on Tienmu West. We had a delicious meal and a really pleasant walk back along the river, taking in the sights and sounds and were amazed at how many people were promenading in the night time. It was really beautiful as a sunny day had made way for a crispy clean evening with a light breeze and the path and river illuminated just right…it was a great day! Chris and Val rang me the night before from the depths of the Red Centre right next to Uluru (that’s what it is called now you two!) on a crackling mobile line and Mum rang after we got back from Thai Town and we had a good chat.

On Friday I joined the lower school crew at Sababa, which has just recently opened in Tienmu. It’s a branch of the same chain that Cass and I used to travel downtown to visit and has delicious fare of the middle eastern/Turkish variety, very healthy too. Well for our ex-Taipei readers, it is owned and run by Jim M. and Annie L. just down the lane from Subway in the same spot where “Mom and Pop’s” Chinese hole-in-the-wall used to be. It’s a classic for them, as they were Mom and Pop’s best customers I think! The place is completely unrecognizable…it’s completely re-fitted and features some slick décor and a very relaxing outdoor spot as well. Mindful of an early start the next day, I was home pretty early.

We were up at 6 a.m. Saturday, not to do a run to the coast for a surf, but to work! Cass was going to help me set up tests before running off to her duties in the middle school play makeup room backstage where she is in charge of a group of girls (and one boy too this year). I was in the lower gym with an even 100 middle and high schoolers trying to gain entry to the school. I had spent various parts of the day in the week leading up to this preparing tests, writing prompts, photocopying, booking facilities etc as I also had to organize the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade external tests on at the same time. I got a trusty group of proctors ready and off we went. It went pretty much without a hitch, which is remarkable, but Cass and I were grading and sorting until 6 p.m. We do get paid extra of course, but it’s a bummer, especially as the day outside was just gorgeous.

We got out today and scootered over to Neihu, where we watched the movie, “Knowing” at the Miramar there. After reading some less than complimentary reviews, we decided to check the ever reliable David and Margaret and they were quite positive, so we gave it a try. Apart from the last 15 minutes, which got a bit silly, it was really great entertainment and we enjoyed the cameos from stacks of Aussie actors (apparently it was shot almost entirely in and around Melbourne). A quick lunch in the food court (remember Chris and Val?) of a smoked salmon sandwich and a decadent treat of some bite sized Dunkin Donuts to take away and we whizzed back to watch a very entertaining football game between the Eels ad the Bulldogs. All in all, a weird weekend, but good. Photos: Some signs we see are just too much! Ready to wander up to Thai Town on my birthday, Cass in a mass of scooters in the Miramar scooter park and an example of Taipei park “artistry”…ducks on sticks and a flower clock!

We were wondering if the heat would ever return. Taipei does not usually grip tightly to such a prolonged cold snap so late into the year, why it’s Spring already and we’re usually beginning to swelter and starting to hope that the air conditioner will work again after its long down time. Well change it did this weekend, Saturday quite glorious and today similar but with that real summer bite to the sun and the air a little thick and wet.

We took advantage of the conditions to have an early evening meal in Beitou. I thought it was just a couple of weeks ago that we went, but it was actually over two months! We must have been having fun. The train trip is always good fun moving away from Taipei city and the meal was as good as ever. Cass insists on buying a glass of red wine there, although I must report that I’ve never tasted anything so similar to what I imagine a glass of paint thinner with red dye must be like. She makes little asides during the meal like, “You know, this isn’t too bad after all” or, “It really doesn’t taste too bad with food”. I remain unconvinced…!

Today we were spoilt by two NRL games on the Australia Network, so we thought we have to take advantage of that, as it probably won’t last long. After eating our breakfast with half an eye on one game, we were determined to get out and enjoy the weekend weather. All kitted up we grabbed train easycards and some cash, stowed the camera in my back pocket and headed up the line to Qiyan station. We’d done a reverse loop from here some time ago, so wanted to try it the other way. After navigating our way through a lot of Qiyan backstreets and loading up on water bottles at the last 7/11, we found the tiny staircase that leads up to the trail proper. It feels quite strange ascending beside people’s houses on what seems like their garden path, but quickly we emerged at the top to begin the trail as it pierced the heights of the mountain air above Beitou. It’s a good climb, and in the heat we were both huffing, puffing and sweating profusely by the time we’d reached the first peak. We rationed our water out and did the trail in big sections, rewarding ourselves with a drink in some shade at intervals.

Halfway along the path back to Veteran’s Hospital, where the trail peters out, there is a very interesting temple. Last time we visited, the golden Buddhas were locked away, but this time the rows of goldies as well as a few big white examples were on display. They were quite fascinating to look at, and Cass reckons that my Mum would be pleased that I had some contact with a religious institution and icon on Easter Sunday; even it wasn’t quite the “right” one! It’s a funny thing: being in a Buddhist country the only way we remembered Easter at all was that there were extra games of football on TV. Eventually we reached the top of the main peak, and made our way down the endless steps till we got to the tunnel linking the trail to the hospital. We walked through the grounds and made our way home along the riverbank and dyke. Instead of turning off to go home, we made a detour down to the photo shop on Mingde were I had ordered a photo the week before last. The lady seemed quite relieved that I’d come to collect it, as she was probably wondering how on earth she would contact me again if I didn’t show up! 3 hours out on the hike was a pretty good effort in the heat, so we sat around guilt free in the late afternoon and watched another game of footy.

Photos today are of us halfway up the mountain and the Buddhas at the temple. Cass is also pictured in front of a wattle bush on the trail. This mightn’t seem very interesting to many readers, but aren’t wattles a native of Australia? I want to know how it got to be growing at the top of Yangminshan! Cass is also pictured in front of a café sign advertising “tuna waffles”…some places haven’t quite got it yet….

Spring Break is always a very relaxed, reflective break for us, before the last two months of helter skelter as the year builds right up to a crescendo, before letting us down gently in the last ½ week before hopping on the plane home. Just a couple of months to go.

The weather was forecast to be bad and it was quite miserable for the majority of the week. Nonetheless, we found plenty of things to amuse us, reading books, taking trips to all sorts of spots in and around and way outside the city, either by bus, car or train.

Cass celebrated her birthday today and we had a few little celebrations around that and she was really pleased to hear from lots of folk, some of whom we don’t hear from often, but it’s great to get some contact and hear what they’ve been up to. Over the past few days, we’ve had emails from Kathy P, Wayne and Josie, Harve and Tania, Lois, my Mum, Jennifer, Susan and Helen! I spoke to Caes on the phone and Cassy’s parents rang up to wish Cass all the best this evening. Last night, we travelled down to Hsin Yi to have dinner at one of Cassy’s favourite restaurants, Romano’s Macaroni Grill. We always leave there feeling most satisfied and find that we can’t tear ourselves away from the Veal Parmigiana, which is one of their specialties, and incredibly delicious (Cass said you’d be jealous, KP!). We had some salads and soup for a start, accompanied our main meal with a bottle of Italian red whilst gazing at the big framed Italian photos on the wall and imagining ourselves back on our Italian holiday of just 3 months ago. Decadently, we caught a cab back to Tienmu: we don’t often, but it was quite a treat not to brave the madding Saturday night crowd on the subway.

We went down to Joe's midweek and asked him to set the sapphire we’d bought for Lily and Cass went back to pick it up yesterday. It looks great and I’m sure she’ll be very pleased with it.

I’ve had two big surfs this week, the second of which is one of the best surfs I’ve ever had! On Monday we drove out to the north east tip to Greenball and the swell was pumping, the waves solid and the faces clean. I was rightly stoked with the conditions and was all buzzed up afterwards. On Wednesday, Cass came with me again, this time through the tunnel to the east coast and Wushi harbour, and Dashi. All the known spots were reasonably big, not huge, but really blown out. On a whim, I suggested we travel further south to the rumoured surf spot of “Nanao”, which Dan and I had spotted on a Chinese surf blog some time back. Ironically, he had been there on his family trip down the coast just a few days before, and texted that it was pretty good.

The trip down was a bit drizzly, but the misty rain couldn’t cover the spectacular views from the cliffs as we went south. After we dropped off the end of the 5 expressway, the road resumes its languid curving up and over a succession of steep cliffs and mountains, sheer drops to the sea and visions of plummeting into the ether in the back of our mind as we drove rather sedately through! After two hours, we arrived in the very nondescript country village of Nanao and realized we were a long way from the coast. Sniffing our way down through farmer’s back roads all the way to the beach, we were greeted by a surfer’s most magical vision: big, clean, perfect left hand waves boiling off a rocky outcrop, and then peeling left along the beach with NO ONE out!! I was literally jumping up and down with excitement and Cass thought I had gone quite crazy as I ripped off my gear, got into the wetsuit and paddled out. It was an amazing experience, a great combination of the right wind, swell, and tide combined with a mid weekday to eliminate any other surfer. It was so isolated; it was almost as if we’d arrived on the shores of some deserted island. Anyway, I could waffle on and on here: you get the idea right? I was and still am absolutely stoked!

During the week, I’ve managed to do the steps a few times as well, which is good for my mental health, and listened to a bit of Chinese on the audio, although I did cancel my two lessons. Wal and Gurecki got back from Japan, and had equally excellent trips, so on Friday, Wal, Shaun and I had a few beers at a new beer garden/restaurant we’d found near Shipai station. Either it is outrageously cheap or they made some kind of mistake with our bill, as we didn’t seem to pay much at all at the end of the night. What goes around will no doubt come around though…

Pictures: obviously a few photos of Nanao surfing heaven (!), Cass in front of a Nanao rice paddy with spectacular cliffs in the background. We’re dressed in black for our night out, Cass at Azie café in the Regent where we had lunch (very tasty, I forgot to mention before) one day when we went down to see Joe, and me outside a sign for the “Clear Mind Mental Clinic”…enough said.

Stop press: Just as I was writing this, Mum rang up and wished Cass a happy birthday and caught us up with her very busy schedule: I don't know how any of these retired folk ever fitted a job into their lives!